Run towards Paradise
by mizzyjane
Summary: Two strangers united over a common loss. One has been alone for far too long, and maybe it's time for all of that to change. OCxSanji
1. Chapter 1

Just a few Authors notes here! First of all I follow One Piece by the anime, and this is starting off assuming now they've left fishmen island without a hitch and will be taking place from then on. I'll change a few few things to make the back story of my character work, but its nothing major that effects the orginal storyline of OP.

**ALSO THOUGH** idk who I want to pair Aldora with, so I want to make that up to the readers to decide! Let me know who you think and from the responses I get I'll see how it goes through the writing process and I think it will be a surprise to us all! So anyway, please give any kind of feedback and suggestions! I was kind of scared to write a OP fanfic because theres just so much going on in it but I think I've got a pretty good gold on it.

Oh and ignore the weird lines halfway through... I fucked something up and cant make them go away lol.

* * *

As the sun began to set over the small but bustling island, two separate eyes stared up into the sky at the fireworks, and they were thinking the same thing. They were not thinking of the beauty of the fireworks display, or even about how nice and peaceful of a night it was. As the explosions of light and fire continued before them they bother thought of a man, a wonderful man that had meant so much to these two people. And as they both stood , one on the deck of his docked ship in the south, and the other standing on the edge of a harbour next to a man in the north, they were connected by this comment thought, and they're story together had just begun.

The female stood tall, her body language was tense though it had nothing to do with the man next to her. From far away one might mistake them for siblings because of their matching dark red hair, but up closed one could tell easily they shared only that one familiar trait. He was waiting for her to speak first, but knew she would not. With a light sigh he turned away from the fireworks and towards her.

"How long do you think you'll stay here?" He asked as polite conversation, waiting to say the things he truly wanted to.

She shrugged, "A week at the most." She told him.

"Still haven't found that perfect crew to join yet?" He asked with a smirk playing on his features.

He knew the comment would work if he said it properly, and it did. Her eyes closed for a moment as she laughed. The man's smirk changed to a smile with that. "You know me," She started, "If I'm going to take orders from someone I better respect the hell out of them first."

Now it was his turn to laugh, "Oh so that's why you won't join my crew, don't respect me?"

She smiled, he was being nicer than usual, normally she hated when people pitied her, but for now she let it slide. "Come on Shanks you know I respect the shit out of you, you're just not the captain I've been looking for." She told him as she reached into the long embellished coat she wore. From the coat the pulled out a hand rolled cigarette from a small metal tin. She lit the smoke and again they stood in silence.

A look of uncertainty crossed Shanks face for a moment but it disappeared as he knew it was something he had to bring up. "I worry about you though. I worry about you being alone… alone after all that has happened."

As he had expected, she became immediately angry and defensive, "Since what Shanks? Since Ace died I can't take care of my fucking self?" She yelled, taking a few steps towards him as she did. She stopped and turned around, looking back towards the water, towards her empty future. "I was just as alone when he was alive." The anger was gone. Only disappointment hung off her words now.

He reached out and placed a hand on her back, careful not to get close enough to see her face, if she was crying and he saw she'd never forgive him. Everyone was hurting from this loss, but no one could understand how much she hurt.  
Actually,  
There was _one. _

* * *

As the lights on the horizon began to pop up alerting the crew of their destination, the excitement in most of them immediately began. "This island is very well known for its springtime festival, we showed up at a great time." Stated Nami as they came into the southern harbour and a banner welcoming visitors to the festival was strung up above the docks.

Chopper and Usopp both hung off the side of the Sunny gazing up at the fireworks that exploded in magnificent displays of colour and light. Robin stood back, but looked up at the sky as well with a light smile on her face. All the crew seemed happy and relaxed to finally get to an island were they expected no trouble, just a quick stop to gather supplies and take a rest. Everyone except Luffy.

Standing at the stern of the ship far away from his crew Luffy's eyes were also drawn the sky but not for the fireworks, or for any particular reason, his mind was just wandering. The past two years had been a lot of hard work, and he had hardly had any time to really reconnect with his crew before being caught up in all the madness of Fishmen Island. As happy as he was to finally have nothing to worry about currently, it let problems from the past work their way back into his current thought.

He had tried hard not to think about Ace, but when it happened he would not push the thought of his brother out from his mind. Today was particularly hard. Although for many years this day had little significance and there were only so few times in his life he can remember being with Ace on this day, but still, it was something he could not forget.

A hand landed down on Luffy's shoulder, it was stern but not hard, turning his head, it was Zoro standing beside him. In all the excitement of the festival and to finally be back sailing on regular water, Zoro was the only one that had noticed the change his captain. A man of little words and more of action, he stared his captain in the eyes and gave his shoulder a light squeeze before letting go.

Luffy smiled, realizing this wasn't the time to be caught up in the past. "I want some meat, and what do you say we find you the best sake in this town?" He laughed and walked passed his friend descending the steps to the main deck.

"Ready to head out captain? I can hear the voices of such beautiful women!" Brooke said as he stood with one leg already off the side of the ship. Luffy nodded, and a cheer rang through his crew as they all began making their way onto the land. His soul felt lighter, knowing despite the people he had lost in his life, he had gained so many wonderful people in his life in the past few years also.

And as he walked a few feet behind his crew, at the same moment the girl on the other side of the island placed a lotus blossom out in the water, and they both looked to the sky and in unison whispered, "Happy Birthday Ace."

* * *

The streets were already so crowded by the time the Straw hats began to make their way into the main area of the town. Drunken laughter and music floated through the air and was almost intoxicating all on its own. As they entered the main plaza it was more gorgeous then one could have imagined. Little lights were strung all around in circles, creating an atmosphere of magic all around them. The band played in one corner on a slightly elevated stage as couples cheerfully danced around them.

In the middle was a small outdoor market, were even from far away they could see the shine and sparkle of gems and gold. Nami's eyes lit up, as they did whenever she was around anything of worth, and turned to Luffy, "I'll be heading over there." And before waiting for an answer she was already headed in that direction.

"I think I'll go with her, markets like that sometimes have interesting little gears and gadgets that I can use in the ship." He said, and with a quick wave of his massive arm was off trailing after Nami. The rest of them continued on to see what else this festival had to offer tonight.

Walking past one café a delicious aroma was pouring out into the streets from it. Chopper stopped as his nose perked up smelling the all the wonders coming from it. There was chocolate, cream, butter, fruits, sugar, cinnamon, and all different scents coming from it. Chopper stopped and stared into the store window at the delicious array of sweets and pastries that had arranged there, but then sadly looked down to his pockets, he really didn't have extra money to spend on food, he needed to get more medical supplies.

"We gonna do this Chopper?" A voice asked from beside him, and looking up Usopp stood, his shooter goggles on and looking more determined than he ever did in his life.

"Do what?" Chopper asked.

"Eat everything in this place!" Usopp laughed and grinned as he pulled a large stack of money from his pockets, "Nami's so stingy with the money I swiped this earlier, let's have some fun." And that was the last seen of them for the night.

"Anywhere in particular you wanted to go Luffy?" Robin asked as she walked just slightly slower and a few steps behind everyone else, she was taking more time to admire the scenery. Luffy stopped and gazed around the plaza, there was so much going on, but eventually they settled on a small, but fancy looking tavern just outside of the main area of the festival.

The remaining five of them made their way through the crowds until they walked into the dim but welcoming light of the tavern. As expected it was fairly busy but they still managed to find a table up against the wall a few feet from the bar. It was mostly groups of people out drinking and stopping for a bit to eat, only a few loners sat by themselves up at the bar.

A waitress came around to take orders from everyone, Zoro immediately demanding her to bring him three bottles of sake, a glass not being necessary. Robin and Brooke were much more reserved and just asked for a glass. Luffy told her to bring whatever was in the kitchen to him, and Sanji of course spent his time flirting rather than asking for anything.

The bit of sorrow Luffy was feeling from before began to completely disappear as the cheery atmosphere, food, and presence of his friends was bringing him back to reality. It wasn't often Luffy, the ever optimist, got distracted by negativities, but there was something else about tonight besides it being Ace's birthday, it was just something in the way the air felt that night, but now he had chosen to ignore it.

Zoro shared a bit of his sake with Luffy and Sanji as the night went on and he became more intoxicated. "Kanpai!" They all shouted as they clinked their glasses together above the table, bits of the alcohol sloshing out and onto their hands.

After that last toast Zoro picked up his bottle to realize it was empty, and seeing the waitress on the other side of the room with a childish sigh he stood up and walked, or stumbled really, the five feet over to the bar to get another one. The bartender reached in front of a woman who was sitting alone at the bar to hand Zoro the new bottle, and as Zoro leaned in to grab it he stumbled over his own feet and bumped the woman as she went to take a sip of her drink, causing it to spill down over her.

Zoro and the bartender both stood there for a moment looking at the girl, waiting for her to react. Her head had been down the entire night, her face and therefore its expression was unseen. All the really could be told about her was she was definitely a pirate, or something of the sort. Her dark red hair was long and messy, with random beads and shells braided into her hair. Her clothes were worn out and layers, a pair of very lose shorts hung around her hips, and just two inches below where they stopped her worn leather boots started. A torn up grey shirt with a red under bust corset was on her top, and a thick blue wool jacket hung over the back of her chair.

Not wanting to deal with an angry, drunk female pirate at the moment Zoro just figured best to apologize to the woman and try and get away. "Oh shit, I'm sorry. I'll pay for another drink." He said dropping a few coins on the bar infront of her and turning to walk away.

"It's alright." She said suddenly, and Zoro turned back to see that she had lifted her head. He wasn't sure if it was because he was drunk, but she was certainly one of the more attractive women he had seen. Her skin was pale, and dotted with a few orange freckles on her cheeks and nose. She had a heart shaped face with nice lips, but her eyes, her light blue eyes looked so sad.

"Um… well, I'm drinking over there with my friends if you'd like to come join me." He said, feeling a little bad now for the poor woman. He wasn't normally so considerate. But he was drunk, and he had just spilt a drink all over a clearly very sad lady.

Her face perked up a bit, but as her eyes followed the direction he had pointed, a new look came onto her face. The happiness of his invitation had left her face, but it wasn't replaced back with the sadness. It was something he couldn't put his finger on. A little bit of confusion… and something else.

"No that's alright, thank you though." She said to him with a genuine smile, but immediately turned away after. It seemed a little strange, but Zoro ignored it and returned to his table with his alcohol.

"Took you long enough." Sanji said, snatching the bottle away the second Zoro set it on the table and filling his own glass with it.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing you lousy cook, this is for me." Zoro said, his words seemingly getting more slurred by the moment.

"Come on Zoro, it's a night of spring festival of this town just share!" Brooke laughed as he took the bottle back from the uncoordinated Zoro. He grumbled under his breath and slouched down in the chair while the others laughed and passed around the bottle to fill their glasses. When it returned back to Zoro it was almost empty and he chugged the remains.

The night continued on for a few more hours in that fashion until it was decided among that it would probably be time to leave. By the time they got up to leave the place was nearly empty. A few groups still sat at tables, and the red headed girl still sat at the bar with a line of empty glasses sitting beside her.

Luffy, being the most sober walked over to the bar to pay the tab before the left for the night. As he walked up there a small group of low level marines walked in laughing loudly.

"I love doing jobs like this, just working some security at some stupid town festival and you get over time for it, hah!" One of them said obnoxiously as they all dropped down in a table just in front of the bar. Luffy ignored how loud they were and went back to paying.

As he was rifling through his pockets for money one of the marines walked up to the bar to get a drink. There was a pause and Luffy could feel his eyes in his direction. "Jesus Christ, it's you huh. No one had seen you in two years." The marine said, his voice was rude, but superior, like he had no fear, Luffy gazed up from under his hat to see he was talking to the woman seated at the bar.

"Hey guys, check this out. Fuckin' Aldora Caine. The famous 'solitary pirate'" He said looking back at his friends and they started laughing as well. "Everyone thought you'd gone and offed yourself after what had happened to that stupid brat you were such good friends with."

The girl, Aldora, sat there with her hands wrapped around her glass, not looking at him or saying anything. Luffy looked back at his friends who had been waiting at the door, but also now had their attention on the obnoxious marine.

"What hole did you crawl out of Aldora? Jesus Christ look at you. I'd take you in but it doesn't even seem like you could be any harm to anyone nowadays. And besides, you only had that 15 million beli reward because of you connection to Fire Fist Ace anyway, and now that that idiots dead the Navy wouldn't want you." He burst out into laughter at his own comments, and his friends followed suit.

Before Luffy had time to fully register what had just been said, there was a massive crash as Aldora was now on her feet and the marine had been sent flying through three tables. Luffy watched as she lifted her face, a few tears ran down her pale face as she looked at the marine, "You can say whatever you want about me. I don't care, but don't you _ever _say anything bad about him. Ever. You people didn't fucking know him. You people think you killed a pirate, the son of a criminal. You killed a human. With a soul. With a heart." She stopped for a minute, trying to compose herself, but it didn't work. "People loved him. I FUCKING LOVED HIM." She screamed with more tears rolling down her cheeks.

The first marine was still stunned and lay there in an injured daze, but the other two at the table jumped up to go and grab her. As they lunged out to grab on to her arms as she still had her back turned, Luffy stepped in front of them. "I think you guys should leave."


	2. Chapter 2

Authors notes: So first of all I'd like to thank the first follower to this story, LuffyxRuby! Makes me so happy (: I also wanted to remind everyone again that imput and direction is heavily appreciated in this story. I'm not sure who I'll match Aldora up with? Give me your opinions! And im kind of new/back into the world of fanfics from like a five year hiatus. So if anyone could recommend any good OP fanfics that would be so awesome 3

Anyway, chapter two!

* * *

Fear immediately crossed the two standings marines faces as it only took them seconds to recognize who was before them. Somehow they had failed to notice him, and as they went to look towards the door, their only form of escape, they saw the other members of the Straw hats closing in on them from that direction.

The commotion had seemed to sober Zoro up a bit as he walked in a straight upright line towards the marine Aldora had punched to the floor. He was dizzy and falling in and out of consciousness, but besides that, fine. "Who the hell speaks to a woman like that." He said disgusted, as he gave the marine a quick kick the ribs. He groaned even more and curled up into a ball.

"Pathetic." Robin chimed in as Zoro walked away from the Marine and back to the group of them. Looking towards Luffy they waited till he acted, the girl was still standing in the same spot, fists clenched and her head down.

Luffy said nothing more the marines, and they realized there would be no more warnings, so they ran from the bar leaving their unconscious comrade behind. The room all of a sudden became very silent and all eyes turned to the girl in the middle of the room. Her back rose and fell with her harsh breathing, and suddenly she turned and tried to walk to the door.

"Hey!" Luffy yelled after her, his arm stretching across the room to grab her shoulder and stop her from leaving.

"LUFFY!" Robin yelled almost immediately after he tried to grab her, and with the power of her devil fruit hands sprang from the floor in a row the grab and pull down Luffy's arm. The girl had stopped just infront of the door, her back still facing them as if waiting to see if anyone else had anything to say. "Don't harass her after what just happened. Ms. Caine I believe, we rented some rooms down by the south harbour, you're welcome to come use one of them to rest." Robin offered kindly, shooting Luffy a look that whatever questions he had for this girl could wait.

Aldora's red hair bounced around her head as she nodded, "Thank you, If I decide to take you up on that I will come track you down." She said before quietly sliding out the door and disappearing into the crowds and the night.

"What a beautiful woman, I hope she will come stay with us tonight," Sanji said, leering out the window after her and not doing a very good job reading the atmosphere in the room. Robin looked at him with a sigh, and then looked over at Brooke, "Brooke, why don't you and Sanji go and try and find the others."

With a nod and an understanding smile, Brooke and Sanji departed the small tavern leaving just Luffy, Zoro and Robin alone. "Perhaps we should go somewhere a little more private to talk?" Robin suggested, but Luffy said nothing, just nodded and walked out of the building only a few minutes behind Sanji and Brooke.

He pushed his way through the crowds with purpose, people walking by him would think he knows exactly where he's going, but to those that knew him best they knew he was walking blindly. Slowly the grass and dirt began to turn into sand and a beautiful white beach was before them. The few random couple sat here and there, but they managed to find a spot far away from all the other people.

Robin and Zoro both sat in the soft sand, enjoying the cool breeze coming off the ocean, but Luffy stood, tense and unwilling to calm down. Robin waited to see if there was anything particular on his mind that would coming bursting out as a question, but since he stayed silent she spoke first.

"I've heard the girls name before, but I can't exactly recall from where, I suppose when we return to the ship I can check through some of my books or notes to see if she comes up." Robin said, trying to offer some answers to with woman's identity.

"Don't bother, I know her." Zoro said calmly as Luffy's interest finally seemed peaked and he took a few steps towards Zoro, "I remember her from my bounty hunting days. She's classified as a pirate, though she's definitely not your typical one and doesn't like to be referred to as a pirate. She travels alone on a small ship, but has ties to almost every well know or famous pirate out there. She's been seen battling along said many of the greats, including Red-Haired Shanks and Whitebeard. Other than that though, I don't know anything about her."

Luffy collapsed down in the sand and let his head drop into his hands. He didn't know why he felt so disappointed about the fact that she left. He had wanted to talk to her, he felt almost as if he was supposed to run into her on this small and random island, he had a chance to finally deal with some of the emotion that was buried deep inside of him, and he let it get away.

He kicked his feet out into the sand, digging his heels deep into her as she brought up his knees to rest his arms on, "Today is Ace's birthday." He said aloud to Robin and Zoro. He knew they hadn't known him, and he wasn't looking for people, he just thought that on this day, other people should be thinking of Ace, not just him, and not just this mystery girl.

A moment passed as Robin and Zoro stayed silence in respect for Luffy and his thoughts, Zoro clutched his swords in his hands feeling a little bad. He was his captains first mate, he was could always back Luffy up and would always fight for him, but when he was in emotional pain he had no idea what to do.

"Luffy," Robin started, unsure if this idea would cheer him up or make him sadder, but she decided it was worth a shot, "Shall we hold a party in Ace's honour tonight?"

Luffy thought about this. Sometime sit hurt so much to think of Ace, but the idea of all his friends celebrating the life of one of the people he loved the most made him so happy. "Yeah… yeah let's do that." Luffy said, his tone picking up and getting happier towards the end.

Zoro and Robin looked at each other with a smile and stood up from the sand, "Alright, we're gonna head back and start getting everything prepared, going to come with us Captain?" Zoro asked as he stood, readjusting his swords on his hip.

"I'll catch up with you guys in a minute, I'm just going to sit here for a little bit longer." He told them, they nodded in understanding and headed off back towards the town, and then to the Inn they had rented rooms at.

And now, for the second time this night, two people sat staring at the sky thinking of the same man. One was sitting on the north-eastern side, sitting near the line of trees just where the beach started, and the other was sitting on the north-eastern side, at the very edge of the water, the tide washing over her feet.

They both sat thinking of the same things. Of the man who had once lived, of all the things he had done and said that ever made them smile. And then, of how they lost him. One handled it better, as she clenched his fists and stood up, deciding to head back into town. The others stomach clenched and felt sick and she curled up there right on the beach as tears poured from her eyes and mixed in with the waters of the ocean.

Her crying was rather loud, and drew the attention of the second. Luffy stopped right before he headed directly back onto the grass as his ears picked up a strange sound. It was a choked sobbing with a poor attempt at being muffled. His eyes gazed around the beach but he didn't see much, a few logs washed up on the beach and a couple shadows near the shoreline from the waves. As he turned to walk away, out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the shadows move very abruptly.

Curious to what it was, and the sound of crying seemed to be coming from it Luffy began to walk over. "Hello? Anyone there?" He yelled out in a calm tone.

"Oh God." Said the voice quietly under her breath, but Luffy heard. It was a person, a girl, she sat up quickly and began wiping the sand and dirt off her body. As he got closer and the moon shone down on the two of them, he saw it was the girl from before, it was Aldora.

He stopped a few feet from her, her hair was a mess and she was covered in sand. He saw her face was blotchy and red although she was still trying to hide it. "Can I help you?" She asked, trying to keep herself composed but on the last word her voice cracked, "Oh fuck it, just fuck it," She said, really to herself and not Luffy, before her composure completely broke and her tears began again.

Luffy stood there in shock, because although he knew her pain, he didn't know how to deal with it, at least when it was in a woman. He didn't know what to say to her because he didn't know her or her relationship with Ace. Clearly she cared about him a lot, which almost confused him a little because Luffy assumed then if Ace had someone important in his life he'd mention her, and he had never heard of this girl.

Luffy sat down beside her, with just enough space in between them. He sat with her in silence for a long time thinking of what he could say to make her feel better, and also knowing that his friends were waiting for him back at the Inn to help him celebrate the life of his brother.

"Hey…" Luffy started, remembering what Robin had said earlier about not pestering her right away, "When I was a kid, growing up, me and Ace never got to have big parties or anything for our birthdays. We always imagined what it would be like though, if we had more of a family around to care about our birthdays."

He started telling her the story, and her crying eventually calmed and then stopped, and he figured she was now in a decent enough state to ask her one question, "Would you like to come to the party we are having? It's for Ace. The birthday he always wanted." Luffy said with a bit of a sad smile towards the girl.

She played with the sand in front of her while she was thinking about the question, and when she had her answer she looked back at Luffy with the same sad smile and said, "Yes… I'd like that."


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Notes: So I'm enjoying writing this story very much. But I'd like some reviews please! I want to know how people like this etc. and I'd like to know if anyone has any opinions on who Aldora should be with.  
So again, R&R Please!

* * *

Luffy and Aldora walked in silence down the path that lead them to the Inn that was stationed near the southern harbor Behind them the laughter and screams of those still enjoying the festival going late into the night, and in front of them the noise of the people staying at the Inn. A great area of silence was formed around them, and they both sought to break it but could not think of the right thing to say.

The noise from the Inn seemed to be centred around room and as they got closer it grew clear to Aldora this would be the room they were entering. Luffy pushed open the door to the room, and the bright light inside flooded over their shadows made from the moon light.

Zoro sat, making a toast, with three other men that looked as if they were from the village. Probably people they met on the way back or when they were finding the others. Nami stood around a table with Brooke and Chopper playing some sort of drinking game. By looking at Nami's flushed face and wobbly exterior it was clear she was losing.

The rest of them stood with a man Luffy recognized to be the keeper of the Inn, it was nice they gathered a few other people to make it more of a party. "Everyone!" He announced rather loudly, stopping the noise as everyone turned to look at him, "This is Aldora. Aldora this is Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Chopper, Franky, Usopp, Brooke and Name." He said, listing them all off in one big breath.

Aldora smiled at them all, particularly those that had been in the Tavern earlier. Nami stumbled over, slapping a hand down on one of Aldora's shoulders and the other on Luffy's. "No way a pretty girl like this would just willingly follow someone like you Luffy, what's wrong with you?" She asked looking at Aldora, and for the first time that night she laughed a little at how ridiculous this girl in front of her was being.

"I knew Luffy's brother. It was a long time coming, this meeting." She said with a smile on her face, for the first time this night thinking maybe there was something more to this night then reliving sadness. Nami continued to stare at Aldora until she shrugged, "Well Ace seemed like a good guy, and I trust my captain as well, so nice to meet you." She finally said, sticking her hand out towards Aldora.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Aldora told Nami, giving her hand a light squeeze and she shook it. The significance of how much it really meant to Aldora was lost on Nami as her mind wasn't working at full capacity at the moment.

Brooke and Chopper, having lost their game partner, also came over. "Ah, Ms. Caine, Hello again. Please forgive me for not introducing myself properly early. I am Brooke, and may I see your panties?" Before Aldora could respond of even react Nami's hand had swung past her and connected with Brooke's exposed cheek bones.

"God come on! You can't see anyone's panties!" She shouted at him, "Leave the poor girl alone she doesn't need to be harass by a skeleton."

"Yo ho ho. Oh Nami, the fire you get when you've been drinking is just exquisite." He told her before walking away. If there were no panties to be found here, he no longer had any interest.

"Would you like a drink, Aldora?" Chopper asked as he watched Nami go after Brooke, berating him in her drunken state. Aldora laughed as she looked after them and answered Chopper's question, "Sure, but just one. Don't want to end up like them."

Chopper nodded understanding, he himself as an animal and a doctor could never understand why humans but themselves in that state. He walked over to the barrel of Sake they had, stationed behind where Zoro was seated. "Hey! Chopper, what do you think you're doing?" He asked, snatching the little guy up as he tried to walk past Zoro, "I already shared enough. I'm done."

Chopper sighed and braced himself as Zoro dropped him and he fell a few inches ontop of his head, "It's not for me!" He stated, offended that even if it was Zoro wouldn't share, "It's for Aldora, and she's a guest."

Zoro looked passed Chopper and over too Aldora, she could feel his eyes on her and it made her a little uncomfortable. She got the feeling that he was definitely the most intense of the crew. With a grumble she was unable to make out, Zoro moved aside a little allowing Chopper to get by a fill a glass.

He hurried back over to her, clutching the glass between his two hooves, and placed it on the edge of the nearby table. "Thanks Chopper." She said, taking a seat on one of the chairs beside the table. Chopper hopped up into the other seat beside her.

"So," Aldora started, praying she wouldn't offend him, "You're a reindeer?" She asked fairly confident now she knew what he was, he gave her a bit of a shock at first. Even through all her own years of travel she had never seen anything quite like Chopper before.

"Yupp!" He said rather happy, it was nice to have someone get it right on the first try. "I was born on Drum Island, a winter island if you've never been there. I trained with a wonderful Doctor, she was great, but when Luffy asked me to join his crew I couldn't say no!" He explained shortly to here.

"Oh really?" She said looking over at Luffy sitting down next to Zoro laughing and trying to get on his nerves. He definitely seemed like the kind that was hard to say no too. "And how do you enjoy your travels Chopper?" She asked bringing her glass to her lips.

He nodded quickly, "Yes. I really do." He said as his eyes roamed over the rest of his crew, remembering all the events they had been through together and the appreciation he had for each and every one of them. "Luffy cares so much about everyone. I think he's saved each of us at one time or another," he spoke, thinking of the fates he had taken Zoro and Nami from in the East blue, how he had saved Robin after she had given up on herself.

Aldora nodded, thinking also about one of those events. She had remembered hearing about the massive uproar of the Straw hat pirates breaking into Enies lobby and saving one of their imprisoned comrades. She thought then it was strange how far someone would go for a person just in their crew, but clearly now as she sat before them all it wasn't just a work relationship they had, or even friendship, it was family.

Aldora smiled looking over at him. A man that went so far to save people, she wondered how it really felt for him having had Ace die right in front of him. She was nowhere near the war when it happened. Sometimes travevlling alone kept her more update with the news, and other times she felt she had no idea what was going on. She didn't know what was going on with Ace till it was too late, but it's not like she could have made a difference anyway. Luffy tried so hard to save his brother and failed, she could only imagine how useless she would have been if she had tried to help.

"If you excuse me Chopper, I'm going to step outside for a moment." She told him as she stood up, pulling the metal tin with the cigarettes in in from her jacket. He nodded and jumped down off the chair, heading over to someone else to talk to.

Aldora got up out of the chair and slipped out the door lighting the cigarette the second she was out in the fresh air. It was nice, and she was feeling much more relaxed then she did earlier. Shanks presence before he departed the island beforehand was a little reassuring, but once he left she slowly began to feel the sinking feeling of her repressed feelings slinking up. She was terrified of what the night would bring, and that's why she had headed to the bar to drown her sorrows.

But now she somehow felt she had been drawn there, and she was meant to find Luffy there. She couldn't be sure, but it felt there was something more than just a random meeting. Looking up to the sky with a smile she wondered if maybe Ace had a part in it. After all these years he finally wanted her to meet the baby brother he had always spoken so highly about. It just would have been nice if he was would have been there to introduce them.

A click brought Aldora out of her thoughts as someone else stepped outside, at first all she could see was the small light of the cigarette glowing in the darkness, but as he got closer she recognized him as the Sanji, the blonde man who had been around earlier.

"Mind if I join you?" He asked exhaling a long draw from his cigarette before taking a few steps closer after she nodded. "Zoro mentioned to me it was Ace's birthday today. I hope you and Luffy are doing okay." He said, now aware of the situation and how Luffy was feeling.

She nodded, before it would have been a lie, but now she was doing okay. Nothing more, nothing less, just okay. She hoped Luffy was fine. She wanted to ask him, she wanted to talk to him about all this but she felt the time wasn't right. How could she help him if she didn't know him.

Sanji nodded as well, knowing not to pry any further into her past knowing when she wanted to speak of it she would. "So a solo pirate? How does that work, I'd love to be part of your crew." He said suggestively, hoping to get a laugh out of her and change the mood.

Aldora placed the cigarette between her lips to hold back her laughter, "Hah, no thanks. I'm good on my own. Not really a Pirate. Just like to travel, not opposed to be a pirate, but gotta be under the right person…" She said, trailing off, thinking off all the people and places she had gone and the fact that none of it stuck.

Sanji listened to her as she spoke, understanding that feeling. "I know what you mean. The idea of taking orders from someone is never great. I never saw myself as a pirate, but then I met Luffy." He said, a light smile pulling over his face as he remembered the moment Luffy convinced him to join, although the convincing really wasn't needed.

"It seems like he has that effect on people, just pulling them in." She said, although he first reaction when she saw him was to run. But she recognized him, and knew immediately who it was, and she somehow feared he would either be exactly as she imagined, or totally different, and she was unable to deal with that and decided not to speak to him, but it seemed the fates had something else in store for them.

"He definitely does. He brings out the best in people, makes them realize how much they're really worth." Sanji said as he flicked his cigarette away into the darkness. Sanji let the silence claim them again for a minute before changing the subject, feeling this conversation of Luffy's personality would trigger some sad memories of Ace.

"So what do you do then, when you travel on your own?" He asked with a general interest. She had been travelling on her own for some time now, he wondered how a single girl like here managed to survive on her own on the Grand Line.

A secretive smile pulled across her face, "I do many things. I work for hire, I work for fun, I get involved in the lives of the people. I make a difference." She said keeping it short and simple. Her past, although it was the only thing she had in her life, was something she did not like to think about too often, "But the things I did are un-important, the things I'm going to do are much more important."

"And what are you going to do?" Sanji asked not missing a beat, she liked his forwardness. Most people felt intimidated to ask her direct questions, especially such personal ones.

Aldora pulled another cigarette out and lit it before her answer, "The world will know my name, and they will know my story." She said with a smile, her families' stories will be told.


	4. Authors note, PLEASE READ

So I have the next chapter written there are just a couple of things I'd like to say before I post It up later tonight

1. Enough people have read this, come on guys a little feedback would be nice!

2. Send in some suggestions! Is there anyone you'd personally like to see Aldora end up with, or just even whichever character you would like it mainly to be more focused around. If I dont get any suggestions after the next chapter is posted I'll probably pick someone basically at random

3. Send me some good one piece fanfics (: I want to get back into readin em' but I don't have the time right now to just scroll through pages and pages, so if you know any please let me know!

That is all, I really hope now I'll start to get some more communication from the readers, because if you like it, it will help me write faster and you can even help shape the direction of the story ;)


	5. Chapter 4

"You should talk to Luffy about that." Sanji noted, "He's in the business of making dreams come true.

Aldora laughed and flipped her hair around her shoulder, "I thought he was a pirate?" She said with laughter still in her voice, but it disappeared when Sanji looked her dead in the eyes.

"Luffy is a pirate. And he will be the King of Pirates, but you know why? Because he's special. He cares just as much as all our dreams and happiness as his. You should really think about it." He said seriously, but somewhat casually at the same time. "I'm going to head in, see you in a moment?" He asked, knowing she'd probably want to stay out here thinking for a moment.

She nodded towards him and then turned back to gazing at the giant black abyss that at this moment in the darkness was the sea. If there ever was a time she felt comfortable looking for acceptance, it was now, with these people. It was strange but there was something different about them then most pirates. It was the same way she had felt about Ace and Shanks but their own previous personal histories had made it too hard for her to have traveled with them permanently, but with Luffy and them she could really have a fresh start.

But having been alone since she was six it was hard to imagine a life without solitude, or atleast that's what she told herself. In reality to her it was hard to imagine a world where she was accepted. Her people hadn't been accepted…. And they suffered for it. Since knowing that she figured maybe even there was something genetic about her that made it so hard for her to be comfortable with herself and unable to connect with others.

And after all these years of rejecting some of the most amazing and powerful pirates offers to join their crew, would she really turn around and ask someone as relatively new, granted infamous already, but still new, if she could join his crew. It felt almost degrading to some level. But what's more important, saving face or having something real for once.

She sighed heavily and shook her head, trying to clear all the thoughts away and just be able to enjoy the night. She chose her pride, and after this night she will get back in her boat with Burrah and maybe she should just disappear.

She turned back around and headed in the door of the Inn and made her way back to the room that the rest of the Straw hats were in. Clearly the party had escalated much further and it seemed now everyone, including Luffy, was far beyond the point of intoxication and were just wasted. They all sat around in a circle on the floor, the townspeople had left for the night, and they were playing some sort of card game. Drunken laughter and fighting filled the room, it was something that she hadn't experienced in so long. Just the casual relaxed feeling of a bunch of friends hanging out with each other. She hadn't felt this relaxed in a situation since the last time she had seen Ace and he dragged her aboard white beards ship to take part in some sort of celebration they were having. Looking back now she realized she had spent almost the entire night getting drunk and talking to everyone else, and didn't spend too much time with Ace. It made her heart ache with regret.

"Hey! Aldora, come join the game!" Chopped said, waving her over to take a seat next to him in the circle. Making her way over she couldn't help but smile, it truly was a nice feeling to be included in things.

She sat herself down to Chopper and asked him to explain the rules of the game. He explained to her, and it seemed fairly simple so they started a new round up to include Aldora. As the game went on, Aldora didn't do very well in it, but it was enjoying and interesting to see how everyone got along with each other.

She seemed to find Sanji and Zoro fighting quite often, no one ever seemed to stop it, and they'd just sit back laugh at it. Though all the people here were so different, there seemed the be a balance, a harmony between them all that made what they had work so well together.

As the night went on Aldora didn't say much, just watched them all and studied who they were. They were like a family it seemed, they could fight and say awful things to each other (mainly Zoro and Sanji it seemed) but at the end of the day they were always there for each other.

The night grew late, and Aldora stood and looked around at them all, "Well thank you for having me here tonight, My ships dock at the other port, So I'm going to leave now so I make it there before I pass out from being so tired."

"Nonesense." Robin spoke, also standing up. "You can share a room with me and Nami…. I'm sure it will be fine." She said as she turned her head, looking at the red headed girl passed out in one of the chairs.

Aldora smiled, "Thank you that's very kind." Robin walked over and pulled Nami up so she had one arm over her shoulder and began half dragging her, "Here let me help." Aldora offered, rushing over and pulling one of Nami's arms over her own shoulder.

"Thank you." Robin said, a kind smiling gracing her face as the two girls worked together to drag Nami out the door. "We'll see you all tomorrow." She said turning back to the room, Aldora also gave a brisk wave to signify her leaving.

"Noooooo!" Sanji cried, all of a sudden right at the feet of the three women. "Don't leave me here with that Moss head and the rest of them!" He said, turning around and looking at the rest of the men all lying about either half asleep or ridiculously drunk, "I want to stay with the pretty ladies!" He said, looking up towards them.

Aldora awkwardly looked over at Robin, she figured to just not say anything and let her deal with it. She didn't know the personalities of everyone, but she already had a bit of a feeling Sanji was a little women-crazy.

"Goodnight Sanji" Robin said with a smile, and started walking away with Aldora in toe. She had somehow assumed Sanji would just follow them, so she turned around to see what happened. Sanji was in the middle of the floor struggling against a barrage of hands holding him to the ground and covering his mouth.

Aldora stopped, stunned, her mouth dropped a little and she looked at Robin, "Umm…. Robin?" She questioned, and when Robin turned around Aldora pointed at Sanji, and then Robin smiled. "He's fully away of the repercussions from me, let's keep going."

"So you did that?" The read head questioned the brunette. She knew many pirates nowadays were devil fruit users, but this was definitely a very interesting one.

Robin nodded as they continued to drag Nami just down a few doors until they came to the room that they had rented for the girls. Robin pulled out an ancient looking key from her pocket and slide it into the lock of the door. With a few heavy _clicks_ they bolts became undone and they entered the room.

The two of them brought Nami over the the far bed and dropped her light body onto the bed and she just curled up and fell into a deep sleep. Robin sighed a little and took a seat in one of the chairs near the window and poured herself a glass of water from the jug that was sitting out.

Aldora timidly look a seat at the edge of the second bed and started chewing on her lip. For her whole life she had jumped from place to place, it had been so long since she felt the need to actually converse with people and almost forgot how too.

"So, Aldora, were you born on the Grand Line or elsewhere?" Robin asked, and Aldora breathed an internal sigh of relief that she started the conversation, although the topic of home was a bit sensitive.

"I grew up in West Blue. A small, relatively unknown island."

Robin nodded as she took in the information, feeling as if there was something she was leaving out, but didn't want to push the girl. "I've read about you a few times. It's interesting how you're perceived by people." Robin commented and Aldora laughed a little, Robin was definitely smart. It was something she had noticed herself, how her description really depended on who was describing her.

"Yeah, almost of that stuff isn't true. There were lots of rumors started and spread about me, by Ace and others, just so I could continue travelling alone peacefully." Aldora explained. She had been on her own since she was very young, and even though she was tough like any good friends the ones she had worried. She had a big mouth, and got herself into trouble a lot, starting rumors of abilities and skills that would scare people away was her friend's way of somehow dealing with it. In truth Aldora was just a regular human with some very good friends.

"Why did you never travel with any of those people? You've been mentioned alongside of almost all of the pirate emperors at some point and have fought with Whitebeard and his crew on multiple occasions."" Robin asked her, jumping right in to the question she had, there would be no small talk and wasting time.

Aldora smiled at her forwardness, it was something she enjoyed. "In all honesty there was a lot of reasons. First of all I didn't give have a crap about most of the emperors anyways, I just did it for appearance and social status. The only one I care about is Shanks, because I was technically in his crew for a bit, but that was a long time ago." Aldora paused, thinking, before going on to the next part, "And I guess I can say this now, but I did want to join Whitebeard. But he wouldn't let me."

Robin made a questioning look towards Aldora and she took that as a cue to keep talking. "Ace wanted me to join really badly. I was around a lot; I knew the crew and I had a good relationship with Whitebeard. One day I went and spoke to him about it though, he said he didn't want me. He never fully explained himself, but told me there was something else out there for me and It wasn't his crew. I never told Ace about it or anyone really, but now that he's gone it doesn't matter too much…." Aldora said, trailing off a bit. She wondered if things would have been different if she had been part of their crew.

She could have been there, maybe just her being there could have changed the entire course of time and the Navy would have never even gotten their hands on Ace. Or at least she could have spent more time with him.

"Do you think you'll find it?" Robin's voice broke Aldora out from her thoughts and the red head looked back at the darker haired women.

"Find what?" Aldora asked, a little confused.

"Find what you're looking for?"

Aldora laughed a little and a weak smile pulled across her face, "No… I'm still looking. Maybe that's all my life will be. A never ending search for the perfect life."

Robin got up and walked over to the windows that faced out into the harbour and pulled the curtains shut. The faint moonlight that had come in through the window disappeared and the room was almost entirely dark now.

Robin placed a hand on Aldora's shoulder as she walked passed her, "You'll find it. We all find out place eventually. Goodnight." Her hand slowly trailed off her shoulder and disappeared into the darkness as Robin walked away and got into the same bed as Nami.

Aldora sat on the edge of the bed, she felt like she would not be able to the sleep. Thoughts were running in her head like crazy, and everything felt so new and weird, but normal and calm at the same time. She shook her head, trying to clear some of the thoughts away before she rested her head on a pillow and tried to fall asleep.


	6. Chapter 5

Sorry for taking so long ): was swamped with work last week then was just really meh and bleh feeling (im so articulate right) and did nothing. again very sorry for the wait, hope you guys like this chapter because i kinda got stuck on it, then i really like where I ended up taking it so yeah, Read and review!

* * *

Despite the curtains being pulled closed, a slightly crack of the light managed to spill through and situated itself right in the middle of Aldora's face. Sleepily she began to open her eyes and immediately closed them after the sun made contact with her corneas. She clutched her hands around the thick quilt that covered the bed and pulled it up over her face.

In the safety of the darkness she rubbed the sleep and slight burning feeling from the sun, from her eyes, before she pulled she quilt back down (carful to be looking away from the sun) And got up out of the bed. Aldora looked over at the other bed to see Nami sprawled across it, with half her body under the quilt and the other half hanging off the bed.

She shook her head with a light smile before quietly opening the door into the washroom and closing it behind her. She sighed when she looked into the mirror, despite how good she felt right now her outer appearance showed her as she really felt all the time, tired and crappy. Her hair was so limp, it fell flat past her shoulder and just hung lamely down her back. Her eyes were dull and she had big purple circles underneath them.

For the past two years she had been by herself. No human contact at all for almost a year and a half. After Ace died it felt like everything inside of her just cracked, and she couldn't be part of society right now. She fled to an area known for it's uninhabited islands and just hung around there for awhile.  
She was lucky to have run into Shanks when she was leaving that area, and she traveled on his ship up until now. She was all alone again.

With another sigh she closed her eyes, pretending like tomorrow would be better. She began her morning routine and was very quickly out of the washroom. She quietly gathered the rest of her things in the room, still being careful not to wake Nami and headed out the door. The sun stood high in the sky, meaning it was already fairly close to noon. She had slept far too long.

It took a minute for her eyes to adjust to the light, and once they did she looked around to see enough people making their way back and force from the docks. She stretched her arms far above her head before she turned began surveying the area to see if she could find Luffy or anyone else to thank for last night before she left.

Though there were many people walking around, many cleaning up after last night's festivities, she did not see any of the straw hats. She turned around to go head back into the room and wait there, but she saw Nami slowly emerging from behind the door. She flinched a little when she walked directly into the sun, and grabbed her head.

"My head is absolutely killing me." She said with her eyes closed before opening and walking over to stand with Aldora. "Where is everyone?"

Aldora gave her a small shrug, "I'm not too sure, I only got up a few minutes before you."

Nami flung her around around, quickly checking each direction for any sign of her crew. She saw none, but wasn't so concerned. "They'll show up. Let's go find somewhere nice to go take a swim and freshen up." She said, and grabbing Aldora's hand she lead her behind the Inn and off into the more uninhabited parts of the island to look for a stream or something like that.

They walked for a few minutes making small talk about the nice weather this morning, Aldora had been on this island for a bit and it seemed to always have gorgeous weather. "Ah! A river!" Nami shouted as she was already pulling her clothes back. Aldora just stood back and let the girl dive into the water first, remembering how drunk the girl was last night some water was probably very refreshing for her.

After a moment Aldora slowly began stripping off her own clothes and jumped into the cold water as well. It was nice, her skin covered in goose bumps as she first broke past the surface of the water, but after swimming around for a little bit she slowly became used to it.

She pulled her head up at of the water and shook her head trying to dry off her hair a bit. She sat off to the side, on a rock that sat close to the surface of the water. Nami also found a place to sit and just have to water move past her and relax.

Nami pulled her legs up to her chest and looked over at Aldora, "Sorry about last night. I probably acted very ridiculously." She said, laughing a little as she apologized.

"Oh don't worry about it. I'm generally around drunk people. You know how it can be with pirates." Aldora commented.

Nami nodded in agreement. "That is true. So is that what you are, a pirate?" Nami asked, having been elsewhere when Luffy and the others first ran into her and being drunk last night, she didn't exactly know who Aldora was.

Aldora always had to think a bit before answering this question; you'd think she would be used to it by now. "In some ways I am and in some ways I'm not. I've always loved the ocean, and had been fixated on seeing the world at a very young age. Adventures and journeys call to me, I don't care about making ends meet or living an everyday life. There is a paradise out there for me, and I'll keep going till I find it. So in that sense, I suppose I am. But I'm solitary, I like to do things on my own, and have been on my own, for the most part, for a while now."

Nami listened to her patiently before making her own comments, "I was alone once too. For a long time, and I thought for sure I'd continue being on my own. It's funny how life changes. I know how it can seem impossible to be around people all the time again, but you get used to it." She looked up from underneath her lashes at Aldora, with a friendly, and almost knowing smile.

Aldora matched her smile and appreciated her well-wishing of her life. It had begun to get tiring to be alone. Maybe it was just losing someone, but in the past two years she had begun to feel the full weight of all this solitary time. When the silence used to be peaceful and relaxing it was now screaming at her. The empty space was a relief and she felt stronger on her own, now the empty spaces just reminded her of how empty her life was now.

She tried so hard sometimes to not get caught up in her sadness, but it just happened sometimes, it's to be expected when someone experiences that much tragedy. Ace's death brought back pain that she had long since forced herself to forget.

Sometimes on the worst nights she could feel her bed empty besides her, a place she knew Ace would never lie again. She could smell the burning homes and kerosene used to help the fire along. She could hear the empty voice of her mother whispering in her ear. It would all overwhelm her at once and then suddenly- just stop.

"You okay?" Nami's voice broke through. She had moved more into a deeper part of the water and was submerged all the way down to her shoulders. Aldora cleared her mind instantly and let her frown fad away, she hadn't realized she was displaying her emotions physically like that.

"Yeah sorry, just got distracted." She told her before moving out into her deeper water as well and plunging her head underneath the water. She stayed there for as long as she could. The water was refreshing and rejuvenating, she enjoyed it greatly.

She slowly emerged out from under the water and opened her eyes. She wasn't sure if what she was seeing was correct, water ran down into her eyes once she opened them and her vision was a little fuzzy, She wiped the excess water off her face and rubbed her eyes, opening them to see exactly what she thought she had a second early, two men crouching down behind the rock they had left their things by. They were going through her bag, and Nami's clothes.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Aldora screamed, immediately finding some footing and standing up, unashamed or just unthinking of her naked body.

Nami's head turned around right as she screamed, just before they began to run, and also screamed out after them. They had picked up the few things they had found to be worth taking. She watched them take Nami's log pose, and then a number of things from Aldora's bag.

Both of the girls rushed from the water but only one stopped to get dressed really, Nami stopped to correctly put on all her clothes but Aldora pulled her pants on very quickly, almost tripping over herself, and just pulled her jacket over herself doing one button.

"Just watch everything, I'll get that stuff back." Aldora said as she rushed by Nami, her complete demeanor was changed, almost her voice even. She took off into the trees the direction the men had gone. She wore no shoes. Nami only stood in mild shock as she watched her disappear.

* * *

As Aldora ran she could feel all the blood rushing to her head. Her heart beat was in her ears, beating louder than she ever thought was possible. The trees stretched on beyond her and she saw no sight of them. She began to feel panic, and it over took her quickly. She kept running but her breathing was rapid and strained. She felt as though her chest may cave in, but she had to keep running. She saw them take with that little burgundy box. She couldn't lose that, not now, not ever.

She began to see blue, the water's edge, and the men were only a short distance in front of her. There was a fisherman selling his catches, and her had his small wooden boat he used to fish tethered to a pole stuck into the shoreline.

Her feet pounded against the ground that had now gone from forest floor to paved streets. She could hear and sense others around her, but her vision had tunneled into them, everything else was blurry. She was so close, but they got in the boat, they were already far enough out by the time she reached the shore and out of breath as she was she'd never be able to catch them.

Her vision disappeared into tears, "NO!" she screamed, feeling the disappointment of it all come crashing down, "Take everything just leave me the ring, PLEASE!" She screamed, her legs giving away beneath her in her hysteric state. Her strained please was barely even sounded that way.

As she fought to collect herself and calm down she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Normally out of instinct in a situation like this she would have spun around without thinking and knocked the person on their ass. But for some reason, she did not this time.

"Did they take something from you?" It was a deep voice, but comforting and slightly familiar. She recognized it, one of the Straw hats. The blonde one, but everything about him seemed different at this moment. Before he was a tipsy, flirty, carefree man, but now his voice held strength and resolve in it.

Aldora dropped her head into her hands, red hair falling down her shoulders as she nodded, "Yes, and from Nami too." She told him, trying to hold anymore tears inside of her though one last sob managed to break its way out.

The hand on her shoulder tightened for a second before letting go. "Wait here, and take this," He said as she removed his shirt, "You'll be a bit distracting sitting on the sidelines dressed like that." He said handing her his shirt and taking a quick look down hers at the same time. Ah, there was the man from last night.

Without another word he dove so magnificently into the water and disappeared for quite some time before reappearing a short distance later. He quickly caught up to the men in the boat. They had stopped rowing and paying attention once they thought she had given up. They hardly even noticed till he had gotten aboard.

Sanji stood above them, water dripped off im and form and pool where he stood in the boat. He had almost capsized it getting in. It was small, but he also was a little unnecessarily rough. Something about seeing that girl cry like that made him so angry.

He took a step towards them, glaring them down menacingly, "So, I believe you had something that belongs to my friend?"


	7. Chapter 6

The men were clearly shocked at first, but they both stood up each pulling knives hidden within their vests. Sanji reached into his own vest and pulled out a cigarette with a match. Somehow they hadn't gotten wet. Aldora watched him from the side, feeling horrible now that she had calmed down, she could have dealt with those men easily, she could have caught them, if she hadn't gotten so upset.

She couldn't hear what he was saying to them, but all she could see at the moment was his lips moving, fast. All of a sudden one of them, the one clutching the burgundy box in his hand, lunged towards Sanji with his knife hand extended. She barely even saw him move. He had kicked the knife from his hand, and when he went to attack again this time, Sanji kicked him off the boat. He fell into the water and emerged sputtering water and trying to call for his friend's aid. The other thief looked at Sanji and dropped all the things in his hands.

"Wheres the box you had?" He asked the man still floating in the water. He looked around, "I dun no. It was in my hand. I guess I dropped it. Oh well." He said with a twisted grin, he had probably let it sink on purpose. With a sigh Sanji put all the other stolen objects down to the side and looked at the other man still in the boat, "Get out." He growled at the man, and with a look of fear he jumped off the boat and began swimming to the shore, careful not to come anywhere near Aldora though.

Sanji glared down at the other man and he too followed his friend towards the shoreline. With a sigh Sanji grabbed the rope that was attached to the boat that had originally tethered it to the pole on the ground. Holding onto the rope he jumped into the water and disappeared for a few minutes. The boat stayed where it was, Sanji was still holding the rope, and he returned back to the surface holding Aldora's box.

A cry choked up in her throat when she saw him swimming back with the rope in one hand and her burgundy box in the other. Sanji crawled up onto shoreline and dropped the rope and the box with an exhausted breath.

With a shaking hand Aldora reached out and grabbed the box and held it close to her chest. She closed her eyes and slowly brought her breathing to a calm normal level. When she opened her eyes she looked over at Sanji, he was staring out into the water, and she waited till he turned to look at her before she said, "Thank you, thank you so much."

Her voice was quiet but very sincere. Sanji looked at her with a goofy smile, his serious demeanor gone. "No problem, anything for a pretty lady." He stood up and brushed the dirt that had accumulated on his pants and extended a hand down to Aldora, "Let's get back and find Nami, I'm sure she's a little concerned."

Aldora grabbed his hand and stood next to him. She fixed the shirt he had given her to put on and they box walked back in the direction she had come from. They walked in silence for the most part, Aldora was still exhausted from running and crying the way she did, and her feet were bleeding as she had cut them on something as she was running.

They walked into the area and they could see Nami standing dressed near the rock Aldora had left her at. She looked relieved to see Aldora, but a little confused to see Sanji as well.

"Sanji! Aldora!" She called out, running up to them with Aldora's clothes in her arms to close the small distance between them. "What happened?" She asked looking from Aldora and then back to Sanji.

Aldora opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it, a little unsure of what to say. Sanji stepped up and relayed the story to her, "I happened to have been down near the shore, I saw Alodra chasing the two men so I also went after them. They tried to escape onto the water, but they were just petty thieves, couldn't get far." He told her as he handed Nami's log pose .

Nami took it back and put it safely around her wrist before handing Aldora the rest of her clothing. She gave her a bit of an embarrassed smile before excusing herself and disappearing out of sight to fix her appearance. The second she was out of hearing distance Nami turned to Sanji anger fuming out of her.

"What the hell are you doing, huh?" She asked, planting her arms strongly on her hips leaning in towards him. "Do you really have to behave this way with every woman you meet? Obviously Luffy think's this girl is special or something so he wouldn't have invited her to spend time with us. Don't scare her off!" Her hands came flying off her hips at the last part, up into the air to embellish her statement.

Sanji took a step back and made a face, "The one scaring her away is going to be you, keep your voice down." He said to her as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it. "You weren't around when we met her…. She knew Ace. Im not really clear on their relationship, but Luffy felt drawn to her for that. She was upset, and I was trying to protect her." He said casually, though a little part of him in the back of his mind did it for the selfish reason of wanting her to associate safety and comfort with being around him. Sanji was incredibly ridiculous sometimes, or well, all the time.

Nami glared down at him, she hadn't know that, but that almost made her worry more. She knew how much it had hurt Luffy to lose him, if she was connected to him in anyway even though it had been two years she was probably still fragile. "She's a big girl I'm sure she can protect herself."

Sanji opened his mouth to respond but Aldora came back towards them fully dressed this time. He tight beige pants were tucked tightly into her leather boots, and this time she had a shirt on underneath her jacket.

She looked at them both with a smile, not reading the slight tension between them, "So Sanji, were you on your own down near the water or were you with anyone else?" Aldora asked, trying to figure out the whereabouts of Luffy, the day was getting on and she needed to get her things together to leave.

Sanji shook his head, his cigarette hanging from between his lips. "No, they all went into town. Went to get a late breakfast, I'm sure we can catch up with them." He noted though, before turning the direction into town and slowly walking, stopping after a few steps to see if they were following him.

Nami and Aldora both shrugged and began following him. Aldora stuck her hand into her coat and pulled out a cigarette, within a few moments her and Sanji were almost synchronized in their smoking.

Nami wanted to ask more about what had happened with the thieves, but she figured something had happened that upset Aldora. She had chased after them with such a fury, and she seemed so drained almost now.

Nami and Aldora chitchatted as they walked, but nothing of real importance was said. Sanji lead them in the front, silently, but it didn't last for long. It only took them a few minutes to get into town, and the were able to immediately track down Luffy.

A small crowd had gathered around a restaurant. At the table there was one man sitting in the middle of it that was eating so fast it was almost a blur. Pancakes, bacon, orange juice, toast, muffins, jam, all it was stuffed into his mouth and went down within a second. Nami sighed and walked away almost immediately, "I can't watch this." She had said. Sanji and Aldora stood together, both laughing.

"Oiii! Sanjiiii! Aldoraa!" Luffy screamed from his spot waving them over, the rest of the crew looked over and smiled, the occasional sound of one of their names being called. Sanji and Aldora made their way through the amazed and disgusted crowd and the kind waiters brought them too extra seats. They both took a seat on either side of Luffy.

"Where have you two been? Where is Nami? Do you guys want any food?" Luffy asked, not once stopping his eating. Aldora laughed again and shook her head, "No thank you actually. I just wanted to find you all before I had left. I want to say a proper goodbye. " She said as she looked around the table at all of them with a smile.

Everyone else all gave her very kind goodbyes except for Sanji and Luffy. Sanji just sat there, looking away smoking coming out his mouth. She turned to look at luffy and- "JESUS CHRIST! Luffy are you okay?" She said jumping up. He was slowly turning blue and was waving his arms frantically. He had choked.

"Guys, Luffy is choking do something!" She said turning to the crew for help. Zoro yawned, then slowly walked over to Luffy and grabbed him around the waist. Luffy commonly choked.

"Leave?! No you can't!" Luffy exclaimed, "I want you to join my crew."

He said the last part so calmly, so normally. Everyone was shocked, everyone's jaw dropped and looked at Luffy, a minute after a collective "WHAT?!" Spilled out of all their mouths.

Luffy continued eating, though he seemed to be a little more careful not to choke again. "Yeah. Ace trusted you. So do I. And besides, no one should ever be alone." He said without looking up. He was so normal with his words, but they touched Aldora so deeply.

All eyes except Luffy's landed on her. He continued to eat. She could feel the pressure building to answer, and she knew she needed to do it fast. She closed her eyes and thought about the past two years. And about the beginning. What set her off to the sea in the first place, the goal she had that kept her from joining over crews. But all these people had their own goal did that not? Luffy was not a selfish captain, she knew he would still allow her, and help her, reach her goal.

She opened her eyes, and then opened her mouth to answer


End file.
